1. From stone to historic age
p.: pre-historic figurine of Venus of Willendorf (11,1 cm.), estimated to have been made about BC

2. Neolithic Age (6.800 – BC)
First clay and metal pottery for storing grains, food, etc.
Beginning of community life by living in larger groups
Domestication of goats, sheep, donkeys and similar animals for people’s benefit
Invention of wheel and use for fetching water from wells, making pottery, etc.
First family tombs
First earrings, necklaces and ring idol figurine - Pendants made of silver and gold

3. Greece in the Neolithic Age
: first archaeological investigations of Neolithic Period in Greece, by Chr. Tsountas in Thessaly
Most important archaeological points:
Sesklo & Dimini (Thessaly)
Paradimi (Thrace)
Sitagroi & Dispilio (Macedonia)
Knosos (Crete)
- Approximately Neolithic sites recorded or excavated until now

4. Greece in the Neolithic Age
Stabilization of climatic conditions
Permanent group settlements
Economy based on systematic farming, stock-rearing, exchange of raw materials and products and pottery production
Transition from hunting, food-gathering and fishing stage to productive stage
- p. 1: figurine of a sitting lady
- p. 2: the book of Chr. Tsountas about the finds in Dimini & Sesklo, edited in 1908
- p. 3: representation of settlement in Dimini with citadel in the middle

5. Greece in the Neolithic Age
Characteristics:
Usually open settlements in coastal or inland areas, lowlands or hills, close to water sources (lakes, rivers, etc.)
"magoula“ or "toumba“ (< "tymvos”): a form of artificial low hill (2-4 m. high, with diameter of m.), created by successive habitation layers on the same spot
- p. 1: “toumba” in Macedonia
- p. 2: pile-dwelling in Dispilio
- p. 3: Neolithic settlement of Thermi on Lesvos island

6. Greece in the Neolithic Age
Characteristics:
Pile-dwellings (Dispilio) or huts with walls made of posts and later houses with stone foundations and walls of mud-bricks
One-room houses, in some cases with an additional open or closed porch ("megaron-type").
Settlements often surrounded by ditches or stone enclosures, for defense or to mark the limits of settlement
- mud bricks: unfired bricks, made of clay and hay
p. 1: elaborated big stones, in order to stabilize foundation posts
p. 2: “megaron-type” house with walls of mud-bricks in Dispilio
p. 3: representation of settlement in Sesklo
p. 4: neolithic settlement in Thermi (Lesvos)

7. Greece in the Neolithic Age
Characteristics:
Communities of individuals at the beginning, which later increased to , organized on the basic unit of clan or extended family
No economic differentiation among the members of community or social stratification (at least until very late Neolithic Age)
Signs of community and equality: Ditches & stone enclosures – Shared production - Hearths and ovens in open spaces for common use – No private property
- p.: head of human figurine

8. Greece in the Neolithic Age
Characteristics:
Primitive form of authority (now essential), exercised by the oldest or strongest members
Exchange networks of products with many communities-partners
Some kind of social prestige in late Neolithic Age, based on finds of distinctive objects, owned only by a few members of community (leaf-shaped arrow heads of Melian obsidian, jewels of gold, silver or even sea- shell and copper tools)
Defined roles of both sexes, ALTHOUGH the role of women in Neolithic society seems to have been stressed, at least on a symbolic level (numerous female figurines)
- p.: the role of women is stressed mainly because of their ability to give birth; therefore the 1st deities were female and mainly symbols of fertility, life and death (e.g. Mother Earth, etc.). Female figurines of this Age usually present women with broad buttocks (symbol of fertility).

9. Greece in the Neolithic Age
Characteristics:
Hunting and fishing in a secondary role
Domestication of specific plants - Cultivation of cereals, pulse and flax (+ wool = basic raw materials for weaving)
Domestication and rearing of animals (sheep, goats, cattle, pigs and dogs)
Elaboration of leather, weaving, basketry and pottery (as part of household)
- p.: figurine of a cow, an already domesticated animal

10. Greece in the Neolithic Age
Characteristics:
Tools made of stone and bone
Figurines made of stone or marble (forerunners of Cycladic figurines) with wide ideological content, expressing different aspects of life, or used in symbolic acts (e.g. as offerings in house- foundation).
- p.1: part of a tool; elaborate stone with a special cavity in order to receive an iron part
p. 2: more complicated (made of 3 pieces) agricultural tool for digging the land
p. 3: parts of tools & weapons, made of flint and obsidian
p. 4-6: figurines with basic characteristics of face & body

11. Greece in the Neolithic Age
Pottery for preparation, consumption and storage of food, produced by its users (at first) in a surprising variety of colors and decorative styles and themes
Seals, probably used
for adornment of body (tattoo)
- p. 1,2,4 & 6: pottery decoration with curvaceous geometrical forms, sometimes in stripes. The background is usually grey, red or ochre and the decorative forms are either painted or engraved
- p. 3 & 5: seals

12. Greece in the Neolithic Age
Characteristics:
Import of obsidian from Melos, used in sharp tools & arrows
Practice of metallurgy in Aegean  Gold and silver jewels
Development of exchange networks in Aegean & Balkans
Specialization of production  Workshops specialized in pottery & jewels made of metal or sea-shell
p. 1 & 4: pendants, made of little stones or sea-shell
p. 2: arrows made of obsidian
p. 3: golden plates
p. 4: bracelets, made of sea-shell

13. Greece in the Neolithic Age
Jewels & seals  Human need for adornment & social promotion
Belief in life after death (burial gifts)
An early form of written speech (POSSIBLY)  Wooden tablet with engraved linear symbols, found in lakeside settlement of Dispilio (5260 BC)
Dead were either buried or cremated in that Age
p. 1: burial of a little child in a vase
p. 2: burial of a grown man
p. 3: linear symbols of the wooden tablet of Dispilio